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The emergence of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) has opened up a new avenue for scientists. There is a great demand for the development of a new generation chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (CRET) acceptors with AIE characteristics due to the aggregation-caused chemiluminescence (CL) quenching effect commonly observed in the conventional fluorophore CL acceptors at high concentrations. However, the systematical studies involving in AIE-amplified CL are still scarce. Herein, it is the first report that the gold nanocluster aggregates (a type of well-defined AIE molecules) are used to study their influence on the bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate (TCPO)–H2O2 CL reaction. Interestingly, the AIE molecules in the diluted solution are unable to boost the CL signal of the TCPO–H2O2 system, but their aggregates display a strongly enhanced CL emission compared to their counterparts of fluorophore molecules, thanks to the unique AIE effect of gold nanoclusters. In comparison to rhodamine B with the aid of an imidazole catalyst, the detection limit of the gold nanocluster aggregate-amplified CL probe for H2O2 (S/N = 3) is low in the absence of any catalyst. Finally, the other two typical AIE molecules, Au(I)-thiolate complexes and 9,10-bis[4-(3-sulfonatopropoxyl)-styryl]anthracene (BSPSA), are investigated to verify the generality of the AIE molecule-amplified CL emissions. These results demonstrate effective access to highly fluorescent AIE molecules with practical applications in avoiding the aggregation-induced CL quenching at high concentrations, which can be expected to provide a novel and sensitive platform for the CL amplified detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In general, the chemiluminescence (CL) sensing of vitamin B12 is achieved by determining Co(II) liberated from acidified vitamin B12 by a luminol system. However, the luminol system for sensing vitamin B12 has poor selectivity due to serious interference from other metal ions. In this study, as a novel CL amplifier of the Co(II)+H2O2+OH- ultra-weak CL reaction (Fenton-like system), dodecylbenzene sulfonate (DBS)-layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have been applied to the specific determination of vitamin B12 by liberating Co(II). The CL intensity increased with increasing the concentration of vitamin B12 in a wide range from 1.0 ng mL-1 to 5 µg mL-1 with a detection limit of 0.57 ng mL-1 (S/N=3). The proposed method has been successfully applied to determine vitamin B12 in egg yolk with simple procedures, shorter time and higher selectivity. Recoveries from spiked real samples were 96-103%. The results of the proposed method for sensing vitamin B12 in real samples were agreed with those obtained by the standard inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the CL sensing of vitamin B12 with high selectivity in the absence of luminol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oxygen states (O-states) of carbon quantum dots (CDs) play ail important rule, with regard to their optical properties and analytical applications. However, the rapid screening of O-states in CDs is still a great challenge, because of the complicated surface composition. In this study, it is found that the chemiluminescence (CL) intensity of prepared CDs in the presence of peroxynitrite (ONOO-) is proportional to the content of C—O group-related O-states. The related mechanism discloses that the O-state-dependent CL is due to the fact that abundant C—O functional groups in CDs with high O-states could facilitate the electron transfer of the produced smaller energy gaps for strong CL emission. Hence, ONOO--induced CL can be utilized as a facile probe for the rapid screening of O-states in CDs with some advantages, such as rapid response, low cost, and easy operation. Its practicability is verified by detecting the CL of phosphorus-doped CDs with variable phosphorus-doping contents. The content of C—O group-related O-states in sulfur-/ phosphorus-doped CDs measured by the proposed CL probe is consistent with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) characterization. This strategy can also be extended to distinguish O-states in different types of nanoparticles by tuning the CL probe molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]